Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
FIONA
Seb leads us back into the dining room, and I hide a smile when I notice his hand firmly clasped in B’s. Charlie side-eyes me, and I wink at her. They obviously just did something dirty together in that bathroom. The flushed cheeks and just-fucked hair don’t lie.
The tricky part is that Charlie is confused, and I’ve been avoiding her all night because I don’t know the etiquette for telling your best friend that you’re fucking her brother but also another guy.
Lincoln and Marcus seem to think that the guys are both hot for just me, but I don’t think it occurred to them that B and Seb are also into each other.
I mean, what’re the odds of two throuples in one friend group?
The room is warm, almost too warm, and everyone is chattering and laughing. Now that the sun has set, the windows look out into a black abyss, and something about the pervading darkness makes me feel exposed. Anyone could be out there looking in.
Seb stops when they reach the head of the table.
“Hey, guys,” he says with a nervous smile that’s very uncharacteristic of the grumpy man I’ve come to love.
Link, Trey, and John pause and look over, and Link takes a long pull of his drink as if bracing for something.
He’s always so dramatic. Marcus’s eyes drop to the guys’s linked hands, and he frowns and looks back up at his brother.
Seb clears his throat. “I don’t really know how to explain this, but I wanted you to know—” He looks between Charlie and Marcus. “Really, I want you two to know, that I’m demisexual. I think.”
Trey’s eyes light up, and Link elbows him. Everyone else is quiet for a beat before John speaks. “No disrespect at all, Sebastian, but I don’t know what that means.”
Seb gives a faint smile. “Basically, it means I need an emotional bond to feel attraction. It seems gender is irrelevant as well.”
“You guys are together?” Marcus asks, pointing between Seb and B, his grin widening. “I was sure it was Fi after the way you two flirted before she got together with Anna.” Then he winces and looks over at me apologetically. “Sorry, Fi, I shouldn’t bring up your ex.”
“No, it’s okay, Marcus, but—” But before I can correct him, Lincoln barks a laugh.
“Both of you forgave Michaels?” Link gives Brantley an amused look. “Do you have a magic cock or something?” Seb and I exchange a smirk, and Lincoln narrows his eyes at me. “You’re all fucking each other.”
“Wait, what?” Charlie says, raising her hands. “Fi would have told me if she’d hooked up with my brother.” She places her hand on her waist and pops out her hip. “Right, Fi?”
“Uhhh, well…”
“Fiona Flowers! You bitch!”
“I’m sorry,” I sputter. “We were at my dad’s cabin alone together, and things just happened, and surely you can understand that I can’t choose—”
Charlie tackle-hugs me, interrupting my rambling apology. “We’re going to be sisters!” she crows.
“Wha…” I start.
“That’s a bit of a stretch.” Seb says nervously, sitting back down at the table and taking a long pull of his drink. “We haven’t really discussed commitment or labels.”
B sits next to him, throwing an arm over the back of Seb’s chair. It makes my heart happy to see them comfortable together out in the open. I still worry that the real world will ruin this—ruin us—but I have a bit of hope now.
“But there’s a chance,” Charlie replies with a giggle, still wrapped up in my arms. I kiss the side of her head and wink at the guys.
B grins widely. “Bastian, if we both date Fi, will that make us boyfriends-in-law?”
Trey snorts a laugh and looks at Link. “Awww, baby, you’re my boyfriend-in-law.”
Lincoln glares. “Absolutely not.”
Just then, something prickles the back of my neck. I whirl, staring out the large window, and see movement just before glass explodes over the dining room.
Charlie and I dive to the floor, and I swear the weight of all the alpha males in the room trying to shield us is like one of those football dog piles.
“Jesus, guys, I literally can’t breathe,” I whine.
Charlie groans next to me in agreement. I push myself up between B and Seb, accidentally kicking Trey in the process.
I climb to my knees but stay low as I scan the room. Shards of glass glitter like bits of ice in the warm overhead lights, reminding me of the frozen pond I almost drowned in just yesterday. A large, muddy rock rests on the hardwood floor, obviously the source of the broken window.
I look at Marcus. He’s under the large table with his body covering Jeremy’s smaller frame, whispering something in his ear.
“Fuck, Dad, are you okay?”
I turn to look at Link. He’s kneeling next to John, who has a bloody gash above his right eyebrow.
“Yeah,” John says, laughing weakly. “Just a scratch.”
“Let’s get downstairs,” Link says, his voice shaking with rage. Charlie places a gentle hand on his bicep, and he relaxes slightly. “I’ll call my security guy to get a team to search the property.”
“Guys,” Trey says softly. “There’s a note.”
“What?” I ask, standing unsteadily. My legs wobble as I shuffle to where Trey crouches over the rock, removing a white folded piece of paper secured with a rubber band.
I snatch it and unfold it with trembling fingers. Eye for an eye, Red. Which one of your pretty boys are you willing to lose?
I look up at B and Seb. “He’s gonna…I can’t. I have to go. I have to run.” A sob crawls up my throat, and I cover my face with my hands as B steps forward and wraps his arms around me. I cling to him, the note falling from my nerveless fingers.
Seb catches it before it flutters to the ground. “Is this from your stepfather?”
I look over at Seb and Lincoln, who are staring at the paper with murder in their eyes.
I nod, shamelessly wiping my nose on B’s shirt. He gives me a disapproving look. “Yes, it’s from Dennis. It’s definitely his handwriting this time.”
Seb’s head snaps up. “This time?” He grits his teeth. “Fiona, did you suspect someone else wrote the other note?”
I swallow. “No?”
B sighs. “Really, Fi?”
“I guess I convinced myself it was him disguising his handwriting. I didn’t want to believe there was another threat out there. One psychopath is enough, you know?”
“Baby,” Seb says, his tone pleading. He walks up to me and hooks a finger possessively under my chin. “You have got to stop keeping shit from us. You’re putting yourself in danger.”
“I know.” Guilt is thick in my throat, and I swallow, refusing to meet Seb’s eyes. Because all I can think is I’m done with this.
It’s time to draw Dennis out once and for all, and I’m not going to involve anyone else because fuck this shit.
This is about me, not them.
“C’mon, guys, let’s get downstairs. We’re really exposed in this room,” Marcus says. Jeremy looks spooked as he shifts from foot-to-foot behind him. “Let’s get John cleaned up and figure out what happens next.”
Lincoln nods and pulls out his phone as we walk downstairs to a large office that happens to have no windows. Charlie goes into the bathroom with John, and Link stands in the hallway, talking quietly.
I flop into the tall leather chair and place my head in my hands. “How the fuck does he keep finding us?” I look up. No one has an answer. “I thought I was being overly cautious moving from place to place, but obviously he’s somehow tracking me.”
Trey sits on the edge of the desk and crosses his ankles, lost in thought. “I know he’s wealthy, so he probably has connections, but would he have access to that kind of tech?”
“That’s the thing,” I say, scrubbing my hand through my hair.
“He’s not really that rich. He always just spent my mom’s money, and he has a crapload of debt.
The reason he’s been stalking me is because he wants me to sign a document that would give him a fair shot at my inheritance.
” I wipe my suddenly clammy palms on my jeans. “Or that’s what I thought anyway.”
“Meaning?” Link asks from the doorway. Charlie and John, with a newly bandaged forehead, follow him into the room, and sit on the leather couch in the corner.
I sigh and look at Seb and B. “Meaning, when I was a kid…he used to molest me.” My voice cracks with the words, but it feels lighter saying it out loud. “And he started raping me when I turned eighteen.”
“What the fuck?” Charlie says. She stands and comes to kneel in front of me. “All those times you went home to help your mom, he was there! Fi, you should have told me.”
I give her a tearful laugh. “Honey, you were dealing with enough shit between your sociopathic ex and these two assholes,” I say, pointing at Link and Trey.
“And I chose not to tell anyone. I eventually put a stop to it and decided not to let that bastard ruin my life anymore. Brantley and Seb only found out recently.”
“So you think maybe he still has that sexual obsession with you?” Link asks, his voice dangerously low.
“I know he does. It’s why he calls me Red. He used to call my mom that when they…” I shudder at the memory. And all the others that come to my mind. “Let’s just say he has a thing for redheads.”
Link grimaces. “Gross.”
“Yeah,” I agree.
Lincoln’s phone buzzes, and he glances down at the screen. “Just got the all-clear text. If he was out there, he’s gone now. I’ll have our driver take you three back to the theater.”
I look down at Charlie and then over at Link and Trey. “You guys aren’t coming?”
They all exchange a look, and Trey gives a slight nod and looks back at me. “No, I’ll give you the back door code,” he says. “But we want to clean some of this mess up. I’ve got a bunch of sheets of plywood in the shed that we can nail to the window to get us by until morning.”
“We can stay and help,” Seb offers.
Link shakes his head. “Thanks, but we’re good. You guys need to be somewhere safe. That building is practically a fortress when it’s locked up for the night. We can regroup tomorrow and figure out what we’re doing next.”
“I’m starting to think there is nowhere safe,” I mutter.
B and Seb exchange a hard look, and the fear from earlier bubbles back to the surface of my consciousness.
Dennis is threatening them because of me.
I put them in danger. Again.
Sure, they wouldn’t leave, but I could have made them. I could have pushed them away. I was too selfish.
“I should go back by myself,” I say resolutely, trying to force their hand. “He wants me. There’s no point in making everyone a target.”
Seb’s head snaps up, his voice rising. “No. We’ve been through this, Fiona.”
“Yeah,” B chimes in. “This isn’t just about you anymore—”
“It is about me,” I interrupt. “Stop, guys. I’m not worth this.” My eyes tear up again, and I rub my cheeks angrily.
“This isn’t a switch we can just turn off, Fi,” Seb says, and B nods vehemently with him. “That’s not how love works.”
“Then stop loving me!” I shout, standing abruptly.
“I can’t!” Seb and B say at the same time, and then they glance at each other.
Shame and guilt mix, making a sour taste in my mouth, and I push between them and stomp back upstairs.
I hear the guys’s footsteps following as my thoughts spiral.
I’ve always been strong and resourceful, and I’ve survived so many terrible situations in my life on my own.
This is why I relied only on myself for years.
I always said it was because people let you down, but the anxiety I have over Seb and B’s safety is so much worse.
The real world ruins everything, Fiona. My mom’s voice is a whisper in my ear. I can see her sitting at the makeup table in her room, applying her favorite shade of red lipstick as she speaks. Someday you’ll understand that.
Maybe I do now.